Amazingly enough the Houston Texans lead the league in yards per reception with an average of 14.1 yards. With all the talk in the previous weeks of throwing it deep, I thought this was particularly interesting. With no offensive line we still lead the league in yards per reception. That is amazing.

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And I believe that is something we need to build on for this year. It appears the ground game is not how we are going to make people fear us but the passing game will. If we can utilize our passing game we can bring out the running game. I think the Oline play has still dictated alot of how this goes.

This post kind of dove tails with an idea thrown up by Vinny at hpf, namely that until the OL significantly improves the Texans should work on developing their intermediate passing game.

Until the OL improves either through gelling this season or off-season additions for next year, I agree that particularly with the Texans' WR corps, intermediate routes should be the name of the game. Gaffney and Armstrong seem to be very good at finding holes in the middle of the field and catching the balls thrown to them in traffic. While a lot of folks think short to intermediate routes waste AJ and Bradford's speed, I think just the opposite--that let's them turn intermediate routes into big plays on safer, quicker devoloping plays with their ability to do things after the catch--think Bradford in Miami or AJ at the Bills last year.

As an example of this kind of game plan, it seems to me that the Patriots have schemed around the fact that they do not have the Chiefs, Colts or GB OL by having Brady throw a ton of passes between 10-20 yds down field. The Patriots have had no RB anyone was scared of the last few years and they do not have one of the best OL's around, but they have had a very effective passing game especially with 3, 4 and 5 WR sets and lots of intermediate length, chain moving receptions.

A good intermediat game will allow the guys we have, who are pretty fast as a group, to make plays with good YAC. Once that starts to happen, it will become easier to have runs up the middle as the LBs take a bit deeper drops. I in particular like the slant play. Seems we have scored more than a couple of times using that.

As an example of this kind of game plan, it seems to me that the Patriots have schemed around the fact that they do not have the Chiefs, Colts or GB OL by having Brady throw a ton of passes between 10-20 yds down field. The Patriots have had no RB anyone was scared of the last few years and they do not have one of the best OL's around, but they have had a very effective passing game especially with 3, 4 and 5 WR sets and lots of intermediate length, chain moving receptions.

Good example. Part of their success, though, is Brady's incredible accuracy and virtually mistake-free ball. We don't get that kind of game from our QB yet, and aside from the picks, Carr also seems to get a remarkable number of balls swatted at the line or within 5 yards of it. I cringe more when he throws short routes than when he lobs it deep, because I'm waiting for the next jump-ball scenario in which a Texans WR will have to fight for a batted pass.

It's interesting to see that even though the Pats won it all with that offensive game plan, they still added Corey Dillon and proved in Week 2 that they can win ugly on the ground now too. Impressive!

Good example. Part of their success, though, is Brady's incredible accuracy and virtually mistake-free ball. We don't get that kind of game from our QB yet, and aside from the picks, Carr also seems to get a remarkable number of balls swatted at the line or within 5 yards of it.

Haven't noticed the batted ball thing as much as you. I will look for it in the next few games. So far this year Carr 65.5% (6th highest in the NFL) and Brady 64.1% (7th)--their OL is better than ours and as I was suggesting they play the intermediate high % passing game more, so IMO that is pretty good.

Amazingly enough the Houston Texans lead the league in yards per reception with an average of 14.1 yards. With all the talk in the previous weeks of throwing it deep, I thought this was particularly interesting. With no offensive line we still lead the league in yards per reception. That is amazing.

Yeah, I can see that because AJ has a 21.8 yard per reception average...but he has only 11 receptions (compared to Davis' 17, Gaff's 6, Bradfords' 7, and Armstrongs 6 (17.3 ypc)).

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'Anyone ready to go outside so I can make you look bad?' - Matt Schaub talking to the DBs

Part of being a great receiver is not just the passes you get, but the double coverage you draw so that receivers like Armstong can catch clutch receptions with under a minute to go to set up game winning field goals. Great WR's have an effect far beyond their yardage. You call it "giving" DD 10 yd passes, I call it respecting AJ--either way it is a 1st down.

Part of being a great receiver is not just the passes you get, but the double coverage you draw so that receivers like Armstong can catch clutch receptions with under a minute to go to set up game winning field goals. Great WR's have an effect far beyond their yardage. You call it "giving" DD 10 yd passes, I call it respecting AJ--either way it is a 1st down.

I heard that! We do get alot more first downs then we are used to seeing. Let's just hold the ball so we can score.